U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission to Host Waterfowl Forum

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Nebraska Game
and Parks Commission are hosting a Waterfowl Forum to discuss how
waterfowl regulations and seasons are set each year; and solicit community
input to ensure better communications during the regulation-setting
process.

Topics for discussion will include waterfowl ecology
and management; and the regulation setting process. Attendees will have
ample time to ask questions and provide comments.

“This Forum is intended to facilitate an exchange of
information and ideas between the agencies responsible for waterfowl
management and the interested public,”said Ralph Morgenweck,
Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mountain-Prairie
Region.

Mark Vrtiska with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
encourages waterfowl hunters to mark their calendars for October 12, “This
is a unique opportunity to meet with federal and state waterfowl
biologists to discuss your concerns and opinions.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal
Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish,
wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the
American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife
Refuge System which encompasses nearly 545 national wildlife refuges,
thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also
operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81
ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife
laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird
populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and
restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments
with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program
that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on
fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

For more information about the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service,
visit our home page at
www.fws.gov